NEW YORK, Dec. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- TVOT -- YouNow and Roker Labs, a division of Al Roker Entertainment, announced plans to produce a series of short-form pilots on the YouNow network geared to YouNow's millions of millennial and Generation Z users. The popular live-streaming social network enables audiences and broadcasters to connect in real time. The announcement was made at the Television of Tomorrow show in New York City on December 3rd, 2015.
"We are looking at a format which is participatory and new," said Adi Sideman, founder/CEO of YouNow. "Kudos to Al Roker for having the vision to invest in developing interactive content in a unique way to an audience of millennials who want to jump in and not just lean in."
The first two shows, which are in development, will take into account the most popular topics among YouNow's millennial audience based on the pioneering research conducted for Roker Labs by Dextro, one of the first platforms to analyze live-stream video with computer vision and machine learning.
The most talked about topics by the YouNow audience were: Celebrities, Social Media, News & Politics, Food, Music and Gaming – plus just Casual Conversation. Casual conversation is emblematic of the conversation that isn't fixed on one topic but is more akin to "hanging out."
"We are committed to creating programs with YouNow that reflect the platform's millennial audience," said Ronald C. Pruett, Jr., Co-Founder of Roker Labs. "It comes down to authenticity and figuring out what millions of YouNowers will relate to and enjoy."
Media companies already broadcasting on YouNow include the Huffington Post, Refinery 29 and Buzzfeed..
YouNow, which was founded in 2011, records over 100 million user sessions a month, and its broadcasters generate more than 150,000 hours of new content each day. Engagement on the network is high: YouNow users spend an average of ~50 minutes per day on the service and 70% of YouNow users actually interact in some way with it, whether by live-chatting with individual broadcasters or sending gifts and tips.
About YouNow
YouNow is a live social network that enables audiences and performers to connect in real time and is devoted to the unlimited potential of human creativity. The interactive entertainment platform has over 100 million user sessions a month and live-streams 50,000 hours of new video content every day. YouNow is committed to creating a community that is a safe place where people can meet, get together and connect. YouNow is backed by Oren Zeev and VCs Venrock, Union Square Ventures and Comcast Ventures. Follow YouNow on Twitter and Instagram @younow.
About Al Roker Entertainment
Al Roker Entertainment is a leading producer of original, award winning TV programs and digital content for the world's best brands. Led by nine-time Emmy award winning TV personality Al Roker, known for his authenticity and high trust factor, ARE produces all forms of content for distribution across a variety of platforms around the world, including: broadcast, cable, digital, OTT, and streaming technologies.
Launched in 1994, ARE has produced a variety of breakthrough unscripted, scripted and digital programming for top cable networks which include, The Weather Channel, Food Network, Discovery Channel, Lifetime among others. Shows include the Weather Channel hit "Coast Guard Alaska" and its popular spin offs, "Coast Guard Florida" and "Coast Guard Cape Disappointment/Pacific Northwest." Recently, the company also produced the reality-based "DEA" program for Spike TV, "Kimberly's Simply Southern" for Great American Country, and "Celebrity Holiday Homes" for HGTV.
Located in New York, Roker Labs is a full post-production video and live streaming studio that fosters innovation and media partnerships with a proven approach toward authentic storytelling, brand building, and direct response marketing.
About Dextro
Dextro is a video analysis company based in New York City. The company's services enable companies to make their videos searchable, discoverable, curatable, and moderatable -- without knowing any computer vision or machine learning. Founded by Sanchit Arora, an alum of UPenn's' GRASP Lab and IIT Delhi, and David Luan, an inaugural member of Peter Thiel's "Thiel Fellowship" program for young entrepreneurs, the highly technical team of PhDs, engineers and researchers are working at the cutting edge of computer vision and machine learning to build the most powerful system for rapidly understanding the totality of what's happening in a video. Dextro is backed by several prominent angel investors and venture funds.
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SOURCE YouNow